A Guide to Reading Nevi'im and Ketuvim

A Guide to Reading Nevi'im and Ketuvim is designed to ease and facilitate the direct reading and review of Tanakh in its entirety. It suggests a flexible schedule for daily reading (precise, nuanced reading out loud with the cantillation melody is highly recommended) based upon careful outlines of each book's contents.

The Guide also provides a useful alternative to the chapter divisions for the books of Tanakh.

Special Pages

Tehillim: Read and review Sefer Tehillim, one mizmor per day in a half-year cycle, a rate that encourages meaning and understanding (Guide, pp. 27-28).

Five Megillot: In many communities, the reading of the five megillot is divided by chapter, sometimes amongst several readers. A widespread custom is to read the end of each chapter with a special flourish (especially in Esther). The "Five Megillot" page offers an alternative to the chapter divisions for this purpose, as well as for private reading and study (Guide, p. 29).

Other Resources:

"Maimonides and the Mesorah of Tiberias": a short, highly readable article for the layman about mesorah and the Aleppo codex, meant to help people gain a clear appreciation of the nature and importance of the two parallel traditions for the text of Tanakh: the written tradition of the scribes and the oral tradition of the readers. This essay was penned at the request of the Maimonides Heritage Center in Tiberias and appears at their website, but the full updated and corrected version is here.

Feedback

Feel free to contact me about A Guide to Reading Nevi’im and Ketuvim, especially to offer suggestions on how the titles, the division of the text, or the format of the pages can be improved. Even very technical suggestions are welcome. I would love to know if you make modifications, so that I can learn from what you’ve done.Remember that as they now stand, the Guide Sheets are imperfect drafts, with many rough spots that need to be smoothed out.

I am very grateful to those who graciously hosted the material as it developed.

The version hosted at this website is current and should remain so (since it is at my own webpage, which allows me to upload updated versions whenever needed). Most recently corrected & updated Heshvan 5770 (October 2009).